Photo Heart Connection, February

Why, oh why, oh why....

do we not, until we can't,

 ask those questions,

about the things we didn't know

we would want to know until now.

Answers to the questions

we didn't know to ask, until we couldn't.

Because we didn't know we would want to know

until later.

{KK textures 1216 and Anna}

I was drawn in by the gold edges on the pages that reflected back on the table.

This was my grandfather's bible, the leather cover around the edges quite worn and tattered. But the all pages and binding are still in really great condition. On the front of the bible it has his name imprinted in gold lettering and on the side it says that it's a teacher's edition . . . I can't help but wonder if it might have been a gift. And on the occasions that I went to church with my grandparents on sleepover weekends, I do vaguely remember him carrying this bible with him.

You know, when we're young we just have no earthly idea how important family legend is. Story, with all the connections, and traditions that will eventually give shape to who we are and where we came from. A unique sense of who we are through history, through a span of generations.

When I see the reflection of those gold pages, it just reminds me of all the questions I wish I had known to ask. Even the simplest of things like what life was like when they grew up, advice on marriage and raising kids, to writing down how my grandpa made his vegetable soup and their best gardening tips. I am fortunate enough to have my grandmothers 5 year dairy which gives insight to their dating years. You can read an excerpt of it here. (Patience is a virtue, a love story)

Within the last year or so, after receiving some ancestral information on my dad's side my daughter became quite interested and has done extensive research on my moms side specifically my grandfather's {"Poppy"}. And much to our surprise she found a book on Amazon about my 6x great grandfather Adam Spach, which includes a short autobiography and memoirs of he and his wife and 170 pages worth of his descendants through a span of six generations. That's 2,488 in total of direct descendants and another 1,699 people who married into the family.

That's a lot of people from one couple and it certainly makes one think considering everyone we meet has a past and connections and a story. You can't help but wonder if you have ever unknowingly met someone that you have a real connection with and then wonder if you might be part of their story too. 

And speaking of reflections, its our new theme over at Focusing on Life, and I'm continuing the muse over there today with a slightly different twist. I would love for you to join me over there today as well. 

Happy Tuesday all-

Love, Kim

Sharing with Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday Photo Heart Connection

Photo-heart connection, August 2013

"Home is a name, a word,

it is a strong one; stronger than

magician ever spoke, or spirit ever

answered to, in the strongest conjuration."

- Charles Dickens

{KK traverse}

I went home this summer, to the area where I grew up and although it wasn't to the house I grew

up in, it was home none the less. Or more like home away from home after being gone for over twenty years.

And, in going home, there have been a handful of addresses between childhood and my visit this summer to see my mom. In fact, I saw her new place for the first time. 

And you know what? 

Even though this was my first visit to this new address it felt just like home...instantly.

Because even though the street name or city may have changed, the contents have not.

Oh sure, there may be a few things missing and a few things added in their places, but the memories 

regardless of where home is haven't changed.

And even though things are arranged differently or moved to different rooms, she has the same beautiful, yet simple style, and no doubt any style I have I got from her.

This photo reminds me that home isn't as much about a physical place, but about the people who come back to the table. And that's just what we did on a Sunday afternoon over a family tradition of homemade egg noodles (made my moi).

Yes, home is wherever the heart is.

It's a strong word indeed, one made of bricks, and not one easily blown down by the winds of change.

Miss ya mommy!

Love, Kim

P.S. I'm still gathering myself from the college drop off and finishing up an online jewelry class

(I hope to have some fun things to share with you)

Linking up with Texture Tuesday, Tuesday Muse, Photo-Heart Connection

Photo-heart connection, number 2

"We have to believe that even the briefest of human connections can heal.

Otherwise, life is unbearable."

- Joss Whedon

I actually started out this morning thinking I had already chosen my photo, but as I was looking for something else, and as I came across this photo from last weekend again, it tugged a little lot harder.

It could be that these girls from my kids high school won the 5A Division III Basketball Championship and are now state bound, playing today, for the chance to play for the state title tomorrow night.  

But really, it's so much more. It's the way they have their arms around each other that just says, we aren't just a group of girls on a team, but we are connected to one another, and we care about each other. Some of them may graduate this year and will go their own way, but the connections that they've made even though they may be brief, mean something, and they will take that with them along the rest of their journey.

Now at 50, I've made many connections on my journey in life, some that have been by choice, and some that have not, and many that were just not long enough. But those connections, all strung together, the good, the bad and the ugly, have to mean something . . . and not just to us, but to the person on the other end of that connection too. 

That quote just rings so true to me, and I'm reminded of the many brief connections, some just fleeting moments in time really, of encounters with strangers who have touched my heart at the very moment it was needed most. But I'm also reminded most of all, that unless I pay attention I may not be the connection that someone else needs when they need it most either.

Love, Kim

XO

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